Monday, September 29, 2008

Big AKC Weekend!

I did really well at the AKC trial this past weekend in Terre Haute. Mum is so proud! This is the first time I've come away with more than one 1st place at an AKC Trial in Exec B, ever.

If you read yesterday's post you know I got those two first place finishes in Standard and Jumpers on Saturday. Well, I was fortunate to pick up another first place in Standard on Sunday. We ended up with some really cool blue ribbons, and 84 MACH points for the weekend, which is the highest number of points we've ever received in an AKC trial weekend, ever.

We left on Saturday morning at about 6:30 AM and got to the site at about 8:15. It's a great site, a fairgrounds. We ran in two rings with one judge, on grass. The weather was amazing. Started at about 65 degrees by the time I ran my first run at 10:00 or so; and about 72 by the time I ran my second at about Noon. Sunny and hardly any wind.

We started with Jumpers both days. Mum really liked how I looked in my JWW run on Saturday. Nice speed, turned pretty tight (still room to get me tighter). It walked like a tough course, but seemed much more manageable when run. There were some nasty spots, but some nice open areas to stretch out.

Trainer, Mum and I had worked on some handling situations on Thursday, so Mum wanted to take some of that knowledge and put it to good use in this run - perfect set ups for what we worked on on Thursday.

Mum stared me in the down stay, about 6-7 feet from the first jump, so that I had plenty of room to collect before #1. She led out just past 1. She pre-Q 2 and then directed me over 3 and sent me to the weaves with me on her right. But I thought she needed to Q my weaves earlier. She went nearly out to 11 and did a front cross, just at the time I exited the weaves. Then she sent me to 5 and booked it to get the front cross in after 7 for an around to nine.

Then she sent me out to 10, gave me a big come and front crossed just after 11. (This is the part I loved how she handled) she stayed on the right of 12 and 13, reared 14 (I was tight), tried pre-Q'ing 15 (not early enough, but it worked OK) and got the front cross in before 16, and then high-tailed it through the rest of the course! This is exactly the type of maneuvering we practiced on Thursday at Trainers - came in super handy, even though Mum needs some practice on it.

The Standard course Mum liked. Again, nice places to open up, which we love. Mum led out just past 1 with me in the down stay. She then sent me to 2 and stayed lateral from me so she could get a front cross in just after 5. (Some dogs were taking the wrong entrance and Mum wanted to support me, so I didn't have to think). Sure didn't need any of the best acne treatment for that, it was blemish free! She picked me up coming out of the tunnel, and ran past the frame as I was descending (she wanted to test my independent frame a little), and it worked well. We kept on and she picked me up at the end of the chute, front crossed and sent me to the weaves.

She did a post turn (with a step back thrown in) to the teeter - but it seemed more like a side step move than a post turn; which we learned from our Trainer and at the MAB seminar. I was a little wide, but I didn't hit the dog walk like some dogs did.

So she arced me to the dog walk and was at the end before me, stutter stepping a bit so I'd make my contact. Then she took off as fast as she could (me too!) 17-20. Some dogs had trouble taking the chute after the tire, so Mum made sure to support me through that run.

So it was 2 first places for these runs, 32 MACH points for STD and 22 for JWW. And we got really cool Terre Haute Kennel Club totes for each 1st place, which we are going to keep in the car for our grocery and dog store trips.

My down stays worked really well pretty much all weekend, except for during my JWW run on Sunday. For some reason, and we had camera malfunction on this one, but I had to collect several times to make it over the first jump. Mum had put me back about 6-7 feet, and that put me very near the fence, so maybe that something I need to get used to. Maybe I missed stepped taking off - just not sure. But the major stutter stepping Mum noticed and thought odd.

The opening of the run was messy after my weird start. I was way over responsive to Mum's movement in this run, and she wasn't ready for it. So I refused one jump, and then when off course. Very messy. We'll have to think on why, but after the bobbles, Mum decided to push me as much as she could without loosing me for the rest of the run. So she ran, gave me loads of go's in that deep growly voice I love. She got a little ahead of me in parts, but I caught up quickly. Mum was even at #16, just as I was completing #14 (probably too far ahead, but...) I caught up to her in time for her to rear 18 and 19. So she and I were happy with the speed during the rest of the run, which I ran like I normally would - not as obsessively responsive. It was just a weird funky run.

Standard on Sunday was a nasty course. Way too many off course ops even for me. So the big dogs had to improvise and really work it. Jump #2 to 3 looks fairly easy on the map, but in real life #2 was just about 2 feet south of the dog walk line. So Mum put me in a down stay about 5 feet from the chute, led out to the chute, met me at the exit to help me over 2 (she over handled that), then hauled butt to get a front cross in before 3 - worked well, but it was messy. Then she gave me a go, and then a come for 6 to keep me off 19 which was closer than in the map. She front crossed before the DW, which made for a difficult time for her to beat me to the end, but she stutter stepped just before I got to the yellow and I made the contact. She sent me over 2 and then sent me to the table.

After 11 she sent me to the tunnel and did a running blind cross between the tunnel and frame, since she didn't have enough time for a front cross. Then she sent me to the weaves. She couldn't run out too much from the weaves, but this time I kept my speed up in the weaves (fairly well) with her right by my side. She arced me to the double, then ran for the end of the teeter to get a front cross in. I looked at the tunnel, but then she turned toward 20, so I headed for 19, and finished it out.

Not too bad of time on STD. I could still get some more speed, Mum thinks. And she knows she can get me tighter in spots. Still need to work on the DW running contact, a faster down on the table, teeter work; and we need to continue working on weave speed. But we were really happy with the weekend; the progress I've made this year, and with how much fun we had.

Gracie got to meet some folks, work on her focus, work the practice jump and do some tricks in chaos. She even did her bang (play dead) right in the middle of a bunch of people. Now that's trust! Heck, I wouldn't do that.

Here are three of the vids from the weekend (had a camera malfunction on JWW Sunday):

Next weekend we have another small AKC trial in Lebanon - only 10-12 dogs in my height class. So we're going for whatever we can get!

You rock!!! Sorry I didn't come up to see you guys. I kind of helped my sister, her boyfriend, and my niece with getting settled into their new house. Cosmo's bloodwork came back normal. Vet thinks she has a really bad infection and to let him know if she doesn't start feeling better in a few days. She's pretty sad.

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